62 MAMMALS. 



Vespertilio murinus, Schreb. Mouse-coloured Bat 



The late Mr. Heddle mentions that he saw bats in Orkney, of two 

 species, and his son, Mr. Moodie-Heddle, records this species 

 as occurring in Walls and Sanday. 



Vespertilio, sp. 



11 Occurrence of a Foreign Bat in Orkney. About September 1847 a 

 bat was caught by some people digging potatoes in the island of 

 South Ronaldsay, and it was kept alive for some weeks on 

 sugar and water, I believe. It was considered a very great 

 curiosity then, though any bat would have been equally so. 

 I obtained the kind permission of the Eev. John Gerard to take 

 it to London for examination. Mr. Waterhouse informs me 

 that Mr. Gray [i.e. the late Dr. J. E. Gray] believes it to be a large 

 specimen of Vespertilio pruinosus. It is a native of North America. 

 Its general appearance is not unlike the Noctule. The general 

 colour may be called badger-like. A bat is a very likely animal 

 to be brought in a ship : insects, we know, are brought from 

 America to Liverpool in great plenty." John Wolley, 3 Roxburgh 

 Terrace, Edinburgh, November 16, 1848 (Zoologist, 1849, p. 2343.) 1 

 " Occurrence of a Foreign Bat in Orkney. Mr. Newman in the 

 Preface to the volume of the Zoologist for 1 849 refers to my paper 

 with the above heading (Zool. 2343). He seems to infer that it 

 was rather * slow ' of me not to seize so plausible a pretext for 



adding a new bat to the British list. Mr. , Mr. , and 



Mr. are men of far better spirit ; they have shown some 



most exotic-looking birds to be truly British. But as Mr. 

 Newman says that I ' do not attempt to account for its pre- 

 sence in the Orkneys, and that the subject requires more minute 

 investigation,' I will now endeavour to say a little more 

 about it than I did in my first communication. I grant that the 



1 Tom. cit. Preface, p. vi : "In Mammalia we have the occurrence of a new Bat, 

 supposed to be Vespertilio pruinosus ; it was caught by some people digging 

 potatoes in the island of South Ronaldsay, and Mr. Wolley, the gentleman who 

 communicated the fact (Zool. 2343), seems content to regard the species as purely 

 North American, although he does not attempt to account for its presence in the 

 Orkneys. The subject requires more minute investigation. . . ." Edward 

 Newman, 9 Devonshire Street, Bishopsgate, Nov. 11, 1849. 



